The Content Reader

I have just finished watching The Night Manager . It is based on John Le Carré's spy thriller from 1993. Fantastically adapted for television with great acting by Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie in a different role from what we are used to. Jonathan Pine is a former British soldier, turned night manager in luxury hotels around the world. At one point he gets involved with a woman, the mistress to a wealthy Egyptian. She hands over documents showing that her lover is working with a famous international businessman who deals in arms and drugs under the auspices of selling legal products. The woman is killed for handing over the documents and that changes the path for Pine. He is contacted by a branch of the British intelligence service and enrolled to go undercover to frame Roper. It is partly filmed in Mallorca which I know rather well. Other film locations are Cairo, Zermatt and Turkey, where I have been as well. It is always nice to see places where you have been on film. ...

A modern classic is this tale from a future where earth is destroyed by a catastrophe of some kind. A father taking his son on the road to a warmer and better place, where you don’t have to fight for your life. Where people are good people. Where you don’t have to be afraid of the people you meet and take for granted that they will kill you to get something to eat. Their odyssey takes them through a post-apocalyptic America, where nothing much has survived, but a few people. All are looking for food and other things that can help them survive. It is so well written and described in such a way that you are there with the father and the son. Feeling their longing for a place that is no more, living on memories of their wife and mother, trying to find a place they can call home and settle down. Where there will be food for the day, warmth enough to be comfortable, and they do not have to suspect everyone they meet for going to kill them to get the meagre raisons of food they have. McC...

Strangely enough, this is the second book in a short time, that I read, loved the story but not the way it is written.  But, misunderstand me right; the writing itself if wonderful, it is just the parts that takes you out of the story (see below). The story is told from two different time frames and in the end the two stories merge. I must say in quite a surprising and extraordinary way. You are in for some surprises at the end. The story starts in the 1950s with Lexie Sinclair who is longing for another life. By chance she runs into a charming artist and journalist, Innes Kent, in her remote village. That is the chance meeting she needs to take the big step to go to work in London. Inevitably she runs into Innes Kent and from there her life is never the same. In present time we meet Ted and Elina, as they have got their first child. The birth was very dramatic, both for Elina and for Ted and it takes time for both of them to settle in as parents and their new life. From the be...

Another short update on my Challenges. It regards Back to the Classics Challenge is hosted by Books and Chocolate . The rule is to choose between 3, 6 or 9 categories; I choose six: still from my TBR shelves. 19th Century Classic - Austen, Jane - Sense and Sensibility I don't know why I have not come around to read this classic novel by Jane Austen. I loved her Pride and Prejudice  and have read that one several times. I have also read Persuasion  which I liked. But this novel, which many says is her best, has not been taken out of my book case. The same goes for Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park . Just means that I still have time to enjoy new books by her.  20th Century Classic - Greene, Graham - Our Man in Havanna (Read) I read this earlier this year, and together with his novels The Human Factor and Travels With My Aunt , Graham Greene has popped up as one of my favourite authors. Wonderful style and a humour, hard to beat.  Classic b...

'Shelf Love Challenge' is hosted by Second Run Reviews : Choose the amount of books you want to deduct from your TBR shelves. Since all my challenges are aimed at lowering the number of books, I have opted for 51+ books. So far I have read 25 books, so it is looking good for the 51+ I have opted for. The next challenge goes hand in hand with the above. The aim is to lower the number of books on your TBR shelves. 'Mount TBR Reading Challenge' is hosted by My Reader's Block in order to reduce your TBR shelves. Always a great challenge for me. I opt for 100 books! So far I have read 25 books, so it does not look that great! I have also opted for 100 books at Goodreads so definitely have to speed up my reading. Here are the books read so far: 1.  The life-changing magic of tidying by Marie Kondo 2. Our Man in Havanna by Graham Greene 3. Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut 4. The German Woman by Paul Griner 5. Under jorden i Vilette by Ingrid Hedström  6. T...

This challenge is hosted by Wormhole , with six different criteria to fullfil. A country - The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Mantel ( Read ) An item of clothing - The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins ( Read ) An item of furniture -  The Binding Chair by Kathy Harrison A profession - Alkemistens dotter (The Alchemist's Daughter) by Carl-Michael Edenborg ( Read ) A month of the year - Light in August by William Faulkner A title with the word 'tree' in it - Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy The titles are the one I have chosen for each criteria.  As mentioned earlier, I try to use books from my TBR shelves to fulfil the challenges. These books all come from there, except The Woman in White which I read electronically. Half away through the year I have finished three of the six books. I am reading Under the Greenwood Tree , and I do love Hardy, but find this book somewhat difficult. Mostly because it is written in dialect and it is difficult t...

A while ago, me and a friend went downtown to check out a small exhibition of Brontës’ memorabilia. It was a very small exhibition, hosted in a book shop. Since it was a very small exhibition, we went through it quickly, and since it was raining, (what else?) we decided to go to the near by Museé de la Bande dessinée or the Museum of Comics Art. It is situated in a wonderful house designed by Victor Horta, the famous architect of Art Nouveau. It was built as a departement store for Magasins Waucquez . After Waucquez’ death in 1920, the building began to languish away and in 1970 the magasin closed its doors. It was only due to Jean Delhaye, a former aid to Horta, that the building was saved, and in 1975 it was acknowledged as a protected building. The entrance hall to the Museum